12/20/2008
The Supreme Court issued notices to the Union Government and the Delimitation Commission on a petition seeking directions to rotate Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies reserved for the SC/ST in the country as well as in the state of Haryana under the Delimitation Act, 2002.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice P Sathasivam issued notices after hearing counsel for the petitioner, Satinder Singh Gulati, who contended that the Delimitation Act should also be struck down as unconstitutional, as it does not provide the correct policy for reservation of the SC/ST constituencies.
The petitioner, Surmukh Singh, has also prayed to the court that Article 329 (a) of the Constitution may also be declared as unconstitutional, as it violated the doctrine of basic structure of the Constitution.
In his petition, he has also prayed for directions to the Union Government to accept the recommendation made by the Delimitation Commission for rotation of the reserved Scheduled Caste Assembly as well as Parliamentary constituencies and to amend the Delimitation Act suitably.
The petitioner has submitted, ‘Under the Delimitation Act, 2002, Assembly and Parliamentary seats have been reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and these reserved seats will continue to be so reserved till the year 2026, as per Article 170 (3) and Article 83 third proviso. There is no provision for rotation of these reserved seats.’ Mr Singh has further contended that the main issue, which arises for kind consideration of this court is ‘what are the rights of the SC/ST person, who wants to have benefit of reservation, as envisaged for the SC/ST in regard to reservation in Assembly/Parliamentary constituencies under Article 330 and 332 of the Constitution, if he is a resident of the general Assembly/Parliamentary constituency and if he wants to contest from his home Assembly/Parliamentary constituency?’ UNI
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Tags : Constitutional Law
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